Brewed with well water (the original well, sunk in 1758, is still in use with the hard water is drawn from 85 feet underground), the gently roasted organic chocolate malt and real organic cocoa used in this ale impart a delicious, smooth and creamy character, with inviting deep flavours and a delightful finish - this is the perfect marriage of satisfying stout and luxurious chocolate that will lead to smiles and refills. Samuel Smith's brews in traditional coppers, uses stone 'Yorkshire Squares' for fermentation, and ships every bottle from the brewery with great pride.

Reviews by keith_wayne:

Poured a bottle of this into my trusty Lagunitas mason jar glass. I smelled the chocolate as soon as I opened this. A: Dark, nice 1 to 2 finger head. Good lacing. Exactly what I was exceptingS: Chololate. Hints of vanilla and maybe malts and toffee. Did I mention CHOCOLATE!T: More chocolate. Hints again of vanilla, caramel malts, and maybe, just maybe some dark fruit if you look for it. Sweet and rich which is what I was looking for. M: Medium body, not as think as I was expecting or what i generally want in a stout, however as sweet and rich as this beer is the medium body suits it very well.O: I love this brew. I have had several of these over the past few months and will always have a few on hand. I do question the availability of this beer. Several bars in the greater Cleveland area have it (Winking Lizard for sure), several wine/beer stores and even many of the Giant eagles. I think this is a regular beer for Samuel Smith base on how many places here have it. I hope it is. (998 characters)

More User Reviews:

4.75/5 rDev +13.6%

I have a rule that I don't give a perfect score until I try more beers but this beer is practically perfect. What is missing in this beer? Anyone? When it is poured into a glass it has a great head, it is inky black, the aroma is among the best I've ever smelled (smells like dark chocolate candy), and that taste is amazing. I've been scared drinking chocolate beers because I've been worried that they would be very bitter, since Cocoa is natural very bitter. This beer is blended so well, it minimizes the bitters with a creamy sweetness (think a creamer, like is used in coffee). Wow, this stuff is amazing. The only negative is the price. That's the one negative I can think of, it was $5 for a bottle.

I'm not a big fan of stouts. They are usually just too thick and strong for me (flavor wise). This is almost perfection in a bottle. I think this is my highest rated beer as of now. (890 characters)

Pours blackSmells of chocolateTaste is the same, but there is something additional a can't put my finger on.Beer has a great feel to it and was an exceptional choice today. Makes me want to try more Samuel Smith products. (226 characters)

Samuel Smith: Those magnificent bastards! I didn’t read their book (I don’t think they’ve written one*) but I am continuously impressed whenever I crack open a bottle of Mr. Smith’s Good Time Juice, aka all of their beers that I have tried. Today’s Sam Smith brew is their Organic Chocolate Stout [where have you been all my life?] or, as I often have to do with a Samuel Smith review, I’ve initialised the beer name to SSOCS to save on word space... hmmm, SSOCS... sort of like socks, I like it.

Poured from a generous almost-a-pint-but-not 550ml bottle into a nonic pint.

A: Looks like a glass of a certain ™ popular cola beverage... with a khaki-coloured 2 cm head on top - how very un-cokelike of this brew to have a head. The head soon reduces to a centimetre, that’s more cokelike of it. 8/10.

S: Full cocoa on the nose, which takes on a hint of coconut character (as cocoa can do sometimes, I think it’s the oil in the cocoa bean) with hints of cream and a solid Stout note of chocolate and a touch of vanilla. Chocolate milkshake in a beer in a pint glass - superb! 10/10.

T: Wow, this is one sweet beer... literally! This beer is aimed squarely at chocolate lovers with the above flavour characters of: Cocoa, coconut, milk chocolate and that hint of vanilla. Finish is skewed towards sweetness but it does contain a hint of cacao bitterness and mild astringency. 9/10.

M: Medium, but slightly watery bodied with a thin to flat classic UK pub carbonation. The wateriness pulls it back from greatness as this beer could definitely have benefited from its Oatmeal Stout cousin’s bag of flaked oats, oh well. 7/10.

D: This is too singular on the sweet tooth side for most beer drinkers I suspect... however I’m enjoying the break from hops - not every beer needs to be a see-saw balance between sweet/bitter - sometimes it is nice to indulge in a decadent chocolate dessert and this beer is the perfect complement to that experience, even if it is incomplete as a true beer experience. Final word: This is the best example of a “Chocolate Stout” I’ve had thus far, if you’re crossing off some sort of chocolate-flavoured beer bucket list this one should be at or near the top. 8/10.

550 ml bottle poured into an English pub glass. Very dark murky brown-black with orange tints and a very creamy khaki-colored head of around two fingers height. Aroma of chocolate-covered raisins, dried cherries, malted milk, and a faint tinge of earthy, tangy hops. This is indeed a very chocolatey brew, comes off like semi-sweet campground hot chocolate (albeit not hot) mixed with just a little wood char to cut the sweetness. Lots of malted milk candy and a touch of dried apricot. Some diacetyl apparent. Smooth creamy mouth feel as expected, quite thick, with moderate carbonation. The nose is much sweeter than the taste but the two dimensions meld together. Finish is also quite sweet but with a subtle tea-like tannic note as well. The beer does develop toward a nutty, woody bitterness over time, probably as one's sweetness receptors start shutting down. I love milk stouts if I am in the mood for something that sweet and this is indeed an exemplary take on the style. (981 characters)

Poured into an imperial nonic a deep chocolate brown with a creamy 1/2 finger tan colore head atop,a great looking pour.Milk chocolate really stood out to me in the nose along with roast and a hint of vanilla,like dessert in a glass.Mellow slightly fizzy feel to the beer,both balance each other out well.Chocolate and more chocolate on the palate but it doesn't hammer your taste buds,it's just a mellow lingering chocolatiness,mild roast and nuttiness with a shot of vanilla.I would make an ice cream float out of this,it's not even close to being cloying but the chocolate flavors are predominant,a great fricken milk stout here! (632 characters)

Pours a dark, deep brown with some ruby shining through the edges - not quite dark or bold enough to be called black. A light tan head forms, stays, and leave a little bit of wet looking lace on the way down. The aroma is full-force, 100% chocolate. BIG TIME chocolate - creamy and sweet, like chocolate milk or chocolate candies. Chocolate syrup, up and down. Some light roasty malt aromas, of course, but they don't stand a chance against the chocolate barricade. As it warms up, a slight nutty aroma pops its head in. But, like, chocolate covered nuts. This chocolate means serious fucking business.

The taste is basically everything you'd expect - sweet chocolate, through and through. Like a creamy and sweet chocolate milk, with some extra chocolate syrup added. The chocolate is overall pretty sweet and milky, but there is a bit of bitterness from the heavy roast in the malt. Perhaps a little bit is from the hops also? But I don't taste much hop flavor, if any at all. Maybe a bit of leafiness, but I'm probably just talking out of my ass. I don't taste much else but combinations of different chocolates. Thin-medium body, a little thinner than expected, and not as creamy as I'd hoped for, with high carbonation.

Chocolate milk beer, basically. Milk chocolate flavors dominate, with just a touch of bitter roast for balance. Good beer to introduce people to stouts who are intimidated. Drinks easy, and very flavorful for being only 5% ABV. (1,454 characters)

Pours a dark dark brown color with a tall, frothy, beige head that recedes to leave some decently spotty lacing.

Aromas begin with lightly roasted malts and then tons of milk chocolate syrup and some lesser dark baker's cocoa. The chocolate seems "real" if that makes sense, compared to some beers where the cocoa seems stale or artificial.

The tastes begins with lightly roasted, toasted maltiness, but the milk chocolate flavors burst huge right after. As it warms you get a tad but of English yeast fruity esters but the waves of cocoa are hard to overtake.

The mouthfeel is medium to light-bodied with medium carbonation. Finish is sweet albeit a tad bit on the watery, flabby end.

Overall, this really hits the mark for a sweet after dinner beer in the winter when you don't want a huge beer and plan to last past midnight. Pretty one-noted but luckily the one note isn't too sweet or burdensome on the palate. It delivers what it advertises and much better than any other of Samuel Smith's Organic offerings, especially the fruited ones. (1,047 characters)